What A Week!

This past week has been quite the week... one I don't want to have happen again!

It all started on Tuesday night, Chloe went to bed great, but then tossed and turned all night, not really fussing, just couldn't seem to get comfortable. So all night I was getting up trying to give her a pacifier, only to find out most of the time she already did have it. By the time a decent hour came around, I decided just to pull her out of bed, realizing then that she was very warm. I took her temperature, and she had a fever of 104.3! Poor baby! That explained all the tossing and turning, and of course I felt awful for not ever really checking the situation out!

Once Maddie got up, both girls began this terrible, deep, cough. I checked Maddie's temperature as well and it as 101.4. I got both girls into the doctor, a little worried because there have been so many crazy things going around, to include pneumonia, RSV, influenza, etc. They said both girls just seemed to have a virus. They tested negative for strep and influenza. The doc said Chloe had little movement in her right ear with a little liquid behind it which COULD become infected, but for now it's fine. If she became more irritable, I was supposed to bring her back.

Ya, well, after being up all night, AGAIN, but this time with a crying baby, uncomfortable, in pain, high fever, I brought her out to the family room around 2am to take her temperature, I could feel she was hotter than ever, yep, 107.4 degrees!!! I was freaking out! I had Mike come out and hold her while I was crying, trying to call the doctor! I have never been so scared as a mother! I took her to the emergency room and by the time I got in there, her fever had gone down a little to where they were comfortable. They basically told me the same thing her doctor did the day before, except that her ear had become infected so they gave me a slip for an antibiotic, which basically cost me $125 for the emergency room visit (and some peace of mind, not much, but a little).

By this point, I hadn't slept in 2 days, and had a throbbing migraine for 2 days as well. I was in tears, and my wonderful husband took Chloe for me from 3am until 6am. I got up and fed her (not her normal waking hour, but she had fussed off and on and I was hoping it would soothe her back to sleep). Mike left to fill her prescription and go to work.

The girls were a little better by the morning, until mid morning hit, Maddie broke out in a fever, AGAIN, and Chloe, who's fever never broke in the past 2 days, began coughing so hard and began throwing up. She couldn't keep anything down and had only drank 3 oz by 1pm. So I took her back to the doctor for them to tell me the same thing... We just have to wait it out. I HATE that! Besides feeling like a crazy, paranoid, young mother after taking your kids to the doctor and emergency room for 3 days in a row.

And by Thursday night when we thought we were MAYBE starting to get better, Maddie came out of her room to lay by Mike on the couch (she was supposed to be going to bed) and threw up ALL OVER the couch, floor, herself, and Mike. Poor girl! And it was NOT fun to clean up!

Well, we've waited it out. The girls' fevers are gone, but they do both still have the worst coughs!!! They both gag every time they cough. It makes me so nervous that they are going to throw up every time they cough.

Needless to say we've been shacked up since Tuesday night, besides the doctor visits and a quick trip to Costco on Friday, which felt SO good to get out (so pathetic!) I'm really hoping we get over these coughs very soon!!

Check out Chloe's wet shirt... drool... she had this outfit on for MAYBE an hour! :)

And WOW! If you made it all the way to the bottom of this LONG, BORING, (but for me scary) story of our crazy week!

I love this picture because when Chloe was first born, she looked so much like my baby pictures (other than Mike's eyes that both my girls have... my eye color though!) But as the months have gone on, she has turned complete 'Dudley' to me! But this picture, I think she looks so much like me when I was a baby!

Happy Early Birthday, Mike!

Mike's birthday isn't until Tuesday, but we gave him his gift a little bit early, like a week and a half early. I was so excited to give it to him because I know he's been wanting one for a while. But what really pushed me over to give it to him early... Maddie saw it when the package was delivered. Maddie doesn't do surprises. She always gives it away. She and Mike have tried to make me breakfast occasionally on a Saturday morning as a 'surprise', but Maddie always blows it by coming and telling me what they're doing! Another example: We bought Valentine's day cards the end of January, during the day. That night, Maddie was so excited to tell Mike that we bought him a card today and it was SOOO funny! (She picked out one of those funny musical cards).

Anyway, so when Maddie kept saying, "Let's give dad his game", I decided just to let him open it so I could enjoy his surprised reaction instead of letting Maddie spoil it! So we did!

Here's what we got him.....

And we have LOVED every minute of it!!! We both have even lost some weight playing the Wii Fit, and we haven't even played it a ton!!!

Disney On Ice

We went to Disney on Ice again, but this time brought Daddy along with us! We had a good time, but I'll have to admit, this one wasn't as good as the last one we went to back in December.

Maddie had a hard time at times paying attention this time because Daddy spoiled her with treats! Hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, lemonade! She paid more attention to her snacks than the show at times, whereas the last time, she didn't hardly blink, she couldn't keep her eyes off of it!

We still had a good time though, and had a good time on a little date with just Maddie!

Maddie has been SO into pirates lately. If I wear black, she asks me if I have my pirate clothes on. She loves to dress all up in her pirate gear and look for treasure, so between that, and her love for Tinkerbell (ya, total opposites!), Peter Pan was our favorite act!

Chloe- Seven Months

Seven months old today, so crazy! I love to just watch her, the new things she learns, the milestones she reaches, and it's just so fun! I am a little sad my baby is growing up so fast! Chloe is still our little talker (ok, we have two of them!) After picking up 'ma-ma' and 'ba-ba', daddy's been working on 'da-da' (although she has no idea what she's saying). She has definitely mastered it, and it's one of her favorite things to say. Sometimes it ends up turning into a "blah-blah", which we think is so funny!

Chloe has also picked up spitting... which we don't think is so funny! Ok, it really is, but not when you teach a 2-year old it's naughty. It's also not funny with a mouth full of 'sweet potatoes'.

Chloe continues to be the happiest baby almost all the time! She wakes up happy, goes to sleep happy, she's just happy! It's really cute to lay her down for a nap or bed when she's really tired and she just gets so excited to lay down, she kicks her legs and flaps her arms just like she does when she's ready to get up in the morning! She opens her mouth wide with a big smile waiting for her pacifier, gets even more excited when I hand her the blanket, which she immediately turns her face into and pulls it over her head and she is asleep within minutes!

Here are Chloe's stats from her doctor visit last week:

Weight: 17.35 lbs (63%)

Length: 27.25 ins (85%)

Head: 17.1 ins (67%)

Chloe's Tooth & Maddie Funnies

Chloe Update: She got her first tooth! Earlier last week Mike was playing with her and thought he saw something so he felt, and sure enough, she has a tooth! It had to have been there for at least a day or two, at least! What a great mom I am, I had NO idea! She's been very drooly and always has her hands in her mouth, chewing on everything, but she's been doing this for a while now. She hadn't been fussy at all, so different from when Maddie got her first tooth! It's so cute to see it! I've been checking almost daily to see if she's cut the other bottom one... I'm going to catch the next one before Mike does!!! :)

Another exciting note... I think Chloe's tear ducts are getting better! For the past few days, they haven't been goopy at all, which is HUGE! I normally wipe them quite a few times throughout the day, and all around her poor eyes is always red. They seem to be more wet than a normal eye at times, but NO GOOP and NO RED! Yay!! I really hope they are finally clearing up!!

We take Chloe in for her 6-month appointment (yes, she's almost 7-months now, but we couldn't get her in until after Christmas for her last appointment and you have to wait so long in between shots) so I'll let you all know her stats then. We can definitely tell she's grown!!!

Maddie Funnies: Maddie always says and does the funniest things and I never remember to write them down and I wish I would! Here are the two most recent I can remember. One from yesterday afternoon and the other about an hour ago!

Explanation first:
Maddie's pacifiers (or P-pire, as she calls them), have been driving me nuts! I've always said once she's three, we're throwing them away! But they're driving me nuts, and I'm tired of fighting with her on them! Our rule is that she can only have them for bedtime and nap time, and in the car for road trips. So I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of them completely, but the problem is, Chloe has them too. If I get rid of Maddie's, I'm pretty sure she'll just steal Chloe's. She already does. Sometimes she wants two. I catch her in the car all the time taking Chloe's pacifier. If I catch her, she always tells me, "Chloe wants to share with me!"... Yes, I'm sure she does! (FYI: Maddie's pacifiers are purple and Chloe's are pink).

Anyway, I tried to tell her about the "P-pire Fairy". You know, just like the tooth fairy, you put ALL of your p-pire's under your pillow, and while you sleep, she'll come and trade them for a 'special' prize! This is what happened next...

Maddie: Like a toy?
Me: Maybe, we'll find out after she comes.
Maddie: My want to see her.
Me: We can't, she only comes while we sleep.
Maddie is thinking really hard now.
Me: So in a couple days, (after the p-pire fairy goes shopping to find a special prize, of course) we will put all your p-pire's under your pillow so the p-pire fairy can come and trade it for a prize.
Maddie:(after much thinking), OK!! My will put all of the PINK p-pire's under my pillow for a prize! (She's now totally excited, jumping up and down, and I'm speechless!)

Dang! Just when I think I finally got this one, she fools me again!! I love that she's so willing, and excited even to give up all of CHLOE'S pacifiers! What a sacrifice Maddie!

Second Maddie Funny-
Maddie: Mom, my push my food on the ground and made a big mess.
Me: Maddie, that's naughty. You need to hurry and go pick it up before I come find it and get mad. (I know, I'm a great mom....)
Maddie: (with her eye brows down and hands on her hips-- 'the attitude') Mom, you just come and pick it up and don't freak! Just don't freak, mom!

Wow! Seriously??? First of all, clearly I need to watch what I say around the girl (as if I didn't know that already!). And Second, what are we, two and a half going on thirteen??? Little miss bossy pants.

**Sorry there are no pictures with this post. I will get around to cleaning off my memory cards and take some more soon! It's on my VERY LONG list of things to do!

McKenzie's 6th Birthday

This last weekend we went down to Circleville for my niece, McKenzie's birthday, and also to help Mike's mom with some odd jobs around her new spa she opened up down there. Mike painted some walls and doors and I put together a desk. My camera cards were all filled up (still are) so I took these pictures from my sister-in-law, Heather.

Funny cake story... Brody & Maddie went down for naps Saturday afternoon so I told Heather I'd take Chloe and McKenzie with me over to put Alisa's desk together. Chloe was going to eat and go to sleep anyway, and McKenzie could help me (plus keep her from making noise to let the two little ones sleep). Eventually, Brody & Maddie woke up. Heather had made McKenzie's cake earlier so when the kids woke up she let them each have a cupcake. Later, she was folding some laundry and realized Maddie was very quiet, which usually means trouble! So she asked Brody what Maddie was doing. He said she was eating icing. Heather, totally confused, wondering where she would have gotten icing from, remembered McKenzie's cake on the counter she had made for her party THAT NIGHT! Thank goodness she caught her before she really dug in, or better yet, took a cupcake or two off the top. So here's the picture below... you can see her little finger that went across the side, messing up the cute little dots that went around it.

Brody & Maddie

These two crack me up! They played SO well together this weekend. We were all totally impressed that we could count the number of arguments they had on one hand (they usually have the love/hate relationship... I think it's the age... or just my daughter! :)) Anyway, it was fun to watch them play. Where one was, the other was always right behind!

Six Month Pictures

I took the girls just over to Kiddie Kandids today to have their pictures taken. Mostly to have Chloe's 6-month pictures taken, but thought I'd do a shot of the girls together as well. I thought they turned out pretty cute.